162 MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



the scurvy, and some other complaints ; but it is now considered 

 merely in the character of an aromatic, and like many of the spices 

 is chiefly employed for the purpose of correcting and rendering less 

 disagreeable the more powerful and nauseous drugs. It is therefore an 

 ingredient in the aloetic powder of the London college, and in the bit- 

 ter tincture, bitter wine, &c. of the Edinburgh dispensatory. Swartz 

 tells us, that " this bark, together with the fruit of capsicum, was 

 formerly a common ingredient in the food and drink of the Caribs, 

 the ancient natives of the Antilles ; and even at present it makes a 

 necessary addition to the meagre pot of the negroes." 



The Wintera aromatica, or Winter's bark, was formerly employed 

 for the medical purposes of the canella of the present day, and 

 was by many botanists, confounded with it. 



This last is a very large tree, often rising to the height of fifty 

 feet. It is a native of the Streights of Magellan and Terra del 

 Fuego. Dr. Solander relates that " the tree which produces the 

 Winter's bark was utterly unknown to the Europeans till the return 

 of Captain John Winter, who, in the year 1577* sailed with Sir 

 Francis Drake, as commander of a ship called the Elizabeth, des- 

 tined for the South Seas; but immediately after they had got 

 through the Streights of Magellan, Captain Winter, on the 8th of 

 October, was obliged, by stress of weather, to part company, and to 

 go back again into the Streights, from whence he returned into Eng- 

 land in June 1579, and brought with him several pieces of this aro- 

 matic bark, which Clusius called after him Cortex Winteranus. Se- 

 veral authors have mentioned it since in their botanical works ; but 

 all they have said has been copied from Clusius. No more was 

 heard of this bark till the Dutch fleet, under Admiral Van Nort, 

 returned from the Streights of Magellan, in the year l600. After- 

 wards all the navigators who passed through the Streights of Ma. 

 gellan took notice of the tree, on account of the usefulness of its 

 bark : but none furnished any description that could make it bo- 

 tanically known before Mr. George Handasyd came back from the 

 Streights of Magellan in 169 1, and brought with him some dried 

 specimens, which he gave to Sir Hans Sloanc, and are now preserved 

 in the British Museum. From these specimens, and the account 

 Mr. Handysyd gave of this tree, Sir Hans Sloane drew up a history, 

 and gave a figure in the Philosophical Transactions. Still the sys- 

 tematical botanists could not give it a place in their catalogues, 



